The St. Mary’s Rams varsity football team made school history by making the playoffs for the first time ever. “The school and the community are all excited. The main goal this season was to be more competitive and win some games along the way. Losing is contagious, but so is winning and our team wanted to win more each week,” Rams head coach Rick Cobia said. “As the coach, when your team wants to win more, it’s so much easier to prepare them each week. Starting out as a bunch of kids that had never experienced tackle football and then to see them grow into football players is super special. Having a high school at St. Mary’s and representing your school and community is special to the team as well. Being a St. Mary’s Ram is special.”
The Rams defeated the Killeen Memorial Christian Academy Warriors 58-12 last Friday and clinched their spot in the playoffs but it was a long road to get to this point.
Last year was the Rams first season ever and they spent a lot of the season learning football techniques throughout it. Players and even Rams head coach Rick Cobia had to learn the ins-andouts of six-man football on the fly last season and it was a big reason why they only won one throughout that season and struggled to score points in some games.
“The playing of tackle football experiences from last season helped prepare the team for this year. When a group of young men commit themselves to improving, great opportunities will present themselves. As soon as the season ended last year we spent 4 days a week in the weight room with the intention of building an athlete,” Cobia said. “Bigger, faster, stronger and competitive was our focus throughout the spring, summer, and each week we played this season. As coaches we graded our films with regards to effort, commitment, strength, speed and improvement. In our losses we taught ourselves a lot about how we need to improve.”
The extra work paid off for the Rams this season as they were a completely different team this season. It started at the first practice during the summer. The Rams were much more adjusted to not only six-man football but varsity football and that experience was the driving force behind the Rams historic run this season.
Their first game saw the Rams score 60 points and shut a team out which was their first shut out in school history. From that point on there was just a sense of the narrative “this team is not the same one from last year” surrounding the Rams. Defensively the Rams have improved so much also as they went from allowing 46 points a game to only allowing 38 points a game this season.
Senior Andrew Flores and sophomore Tyler Zimmerhanzel led the way for the defense this season as they are leaders in the district in tackles. Zimmerhanzel also established himself as one of the top defensive backs in the district with three interceptions, one fumble recovery and three pass deflections which earned him fifth place in the district.
Another big factor of the Rams’ historic playoff- making season was the offensive improvement from last season to this season. Last season the Rams averaged about 28 points a game for the entire season only to comeback in the 2022 season and average 49 points a game.
Players like senior Ryan Altman stepped up in a big way for the Rams offensively, leading the district in rushing yards and touchdowns this season with over 1,600 yards and 34 touchdowns. Cobia said he is really proud of how his seniors stepped up and played this season and wants to see his underclassmen follow in their footsteps.
“We have the leading rusher in the TCAF League, senior Ryan Altman with 1711 allpurpose yards, 190 yards per game and a season total of 34 touchdowns. Senior Andrew Flores with 86 tackles from the defensive end position is among the top defenders in the TCAF League. For being in its only 2nd year of high school football our future is in our control, we have to invest and commit to get better.” Cobia said.
Adding to the offense was the Rams ability to kick points after touchdowns which are worth two-points in six-man football and is a big difference maker in close games. Sophomore kick Gabriel Maldonado has been a big part of what the Rams have done this season helping them extend leads with his kicking abilities.
Maldonado has been the best kicker in the district percentagewise amongst kickers with 30 or more attempts. Maldonado has made 34 out of 42 attempts (81%) this season.
The Rams will begin their first-ever playoff journey on Saturday, Nov. 5, when they travel to face the Heritage Christian Academy Lions in Haslet, TX at 2 p.m.
